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The U.S. is one of only three nations in the world (the other two being Liberia and Burma) which clings to its outmoded system of measurement, failing to get on board with the rest of the world and use the metric system.
We don’t even use the British Imperial system (that the British don’t even use anymore) – we use some bastard child of the Imperial system called “the United States customary system.” Ask any American how many ounces are in a gallon or feet are in a mile and you’re almost sure not to get a correct answer.
What does this mean for you as an American? It means that when you travel you look like an idiot. When someone asks you for directions, you are suddenly at a loss, unable to estimate distance in kilometers. If one of your South American friends asks you how cold it is, you have no idea what to say. Is 30 degrees hot? Is it cold?
There are more communist countries than there are countries not using the metric system. Everyone else has come to the conclusion that it just makes for sense to use the system everyone else in the world is using in which all units are divisible by ten.
Just try to pass the right wrench to someone and you’ll see how stupid this system is. “I need the five sixteenths hex wrench. No! I said the five sixteenths!” Of course you did.
OK. Maybe it wouldn’t be cost effective to tear down all those mile markers, but just imagine the jobs it would create to start adding kilometer markers to every highway in the U.S. of A.
Kate Sedgwick
Editor-at-large, Kate Sedgwick, works from Buenos Aires where she organizes her live storytelling project, Second Story Buenos Aires. Read more about her than you might want to know at her blog YesThereIsSuchAThingAsAStupidQuestion.com, and follow her infrequent tweets @KateSedgwick.
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[...] America, our current healthcare system blows. Shut the racket down. Give us something that doesn’t cost us an arm and a leg. And while you’re at it, will someone please sign off on the metric system? [...]
Did Lberia and Burma convert to the Metric System yet? In a couple of articles I read it has been stated that Burma was the last country to convert to the Metric System. It s 2012 now! Did they convert yet?
Switching to metric isn’t that HARD at all. The key is to switch one unit at a time. When the population is familiar with one unit, start with the next. I think switching from mile to metre should be the last while switching from F to C is the easiest and should be done first. Very few people depends on knowing the temperature to function in life while misjudging the distance can be detrimental.
To switch from F to C, one only needs to be familiar with 5 constants (3, really) and you will feel right at home with the metric system: Basically, 0C is when ice starts to form on the road, 100C is when water boils in the kitchen. 20C is a comfortable room temperature. 5 below 20 (15C) is when it starts to feel cold and 5 above 20 (25C) is when it starts to feel hot. If you want to go nuts, then remember that 10 below 15 (5C) is when it starts to feel VERY cold and 10 above 25 (35C) is when it starts to feel VERY hot.
The same thing with switching from mile to metre. Just remember some basic constants. For example, 100km would be an hour drive on the freeway. 50km would be an hour drive on surface road. For a person, 2m tall would be pretty tall and 1.5 m tall would be pretty short. An ideal guy would be around 1.8m tall and 100 kg heavy.
Don’t get all crazy with complicated converting formulas and scared yourself off. Just learn some basic daily constants in metrics and you’ll be right at home. Let the eggheads worry about the complicated stuff.
Dumbass, I like the imperial system and they still largely use it in England too.
Depends on your age. New generations will use the international system. Every 50-year-old in Britain has been taught in the metric system in Britain, whether they understand it or not. Just ask how many ounces in a pounds, fluid ounces in a gallon etc… a high percentage of people will not have a clue! Now because the UK government is dragging its feet on completing the transition you have people understanding neither system or worse mixing them!
Both the US and UK will both always use the imperial system and i am proud of that!
I deduce from your comment that you are inarticulate and uncultivated, plus perhaps American. The imperial system is not the same as the U.S. system even though the names may be the same. Origins of imperial measures: “mile” from “mille passum”, ”oz” and “lb” from “onza” and “libra” (though these are no longer used in Britain) in Latin i.e. Roman i.e. Italia; “pint” from French “la pinte”, “gallon” from French as well so how British are these units? Not very. They are simply the old European system pre-S.I.
I am American and prud to be so. I am very familiar with the fact that the US Customary measurement system is slightly different from British imperial measurements. I Know where oz and lb come from. Oz., and lbs. are very much still used in the UK. I have family in London and the actual preference of most people there is not to use the metric system, and good for them! The US, for example, will always stick with our current system, and i suspect the UK (which still has signs posted As MPH, Feet, yards, etc)., will as well. Even in countries where they have forced conversion upon their people, many still informally use the old system. And good for them
That may be so however with every new generation the old system is alien and even sounds obsolete. In Britain all the motorways now have km signs posted at intervals of 500 metres plus signs for lorry weights are in tonnes and height and width signs are now in metres. “Oz” and “lb” are still in use but it depends on age as now all cooking programmes use solely grammes, kilos, ml and litres. There is nothing wrong in people using old units, this is quite normal e.g. in Spain they still use cuncas, ferrados, fanegas, varas, atahúllas etc… even though the official units are metric. I think you may not realise that if you want to sell your product abroad you have to use the international system. I am happy that you are proud to be North American (American, being anyone from the continent of America) but using passé units has nothing to do with it. I suspect you may be of a certain age, like my father, who was educated in old units which are no longer used in Britain.
Well your suspicion is wrong as I Am 25. As I indicated, most people in the UK and all in England measure their height in feet, inches, and weight in punds (stones in England) and I suspect it will always be so..at least in the US
Hello again. What I am saying is that even though for commercial transactions shops changed to weighing by the kilo 15 years ago you obviously get people asking for 2 pounds but getting a kilo but every new generation will be accustomed to the new system and employ it with more ease. I can assure you that as a teacher the sole system taught at school in Britain is S.I., since the late 1960s and you do now hear people starting to use kilos and stone, which is quite natural during a transitional period of those generations having been used to different systems. I hope that I have clarified the situation over here for you.
i see…here, too, the schools teach the metric system exclusively but once people leave high school, nobody uses it (excspt In Scientific Applications)….I suppose it will always be so. Regards
The difference being that here in Britain we do use ºC, litres, kilos, tonnes, m² (for carpets, flooring etc…) and hectares, unlike in the U.S. therefore current and future generations feel and will feel at ease.
even so, i don’t think the imperial, or US system will ever be completely erradicated. Obviously never in the US, but I Would Say never in many countries either. All my Canadian friends casually measure in Feet, inches, lbs., Farenheight, Etc., even though their government tries to force them to do otherwise. And I Know of nobody in any country that measures tire size, or TV size in anything other than inches. LOL, if Mcdonalds ever changed the name of the Quarter Pounder, i don’t Know what it would be called…..LOL
Just stumbled onto this site, and I cannot believe how obtuse most of of American commenters are.
1) The US does *not* use Imperial measure. That was adopted for the British Empire in 1824. America was long gone from the Empire by then. The US in fact uses what is called the “Queen Ann” measure, which became the “US Customary Units” following the Revolution. I live in Canada, and our (real Imperial) gallon is 20% larger than the US gallon. Also, my pint has 20 ounces, not 16. My gallon has 160 ounces, not 128. Understand the difference?
2) Australia and New Zealand were able to totally convert to metric in the 1970s. Is the US afraid to convert? Canada converted sector by sector, beginning in 1975. Unfortunately, we elected a Conservative government in 1984 as we were changing grocery store scales. Most did convert, but one can buy meat, etc by pound or kilo. Labelling is dual, or metric only. Most scales are metric. Our weather went metric in 1975, driving in 1977 and gasoline sales in 1979.
3) Everyone’s worried about changing road signs. Believe me, it can be done. It’s called an “overlay”, and Canada was able to do it. As old signs wear out, new signs replace the “overlay” signs. It’s not rocket science, people.
4) Americans are simply not creatures of change. That, plus the wacky religious Right in your country will scream 666 and start ranting about Revelations at the mere mention of metric.
I feel quite comfortable travelling. I use and understand metric. Before metric, I had to convert between Canadian and US gallons when I crossed your border. Now I just have to convert to metric, though I know that because of US low taxes, I generally save 20 cents/litre on every fill-up in the US.
Try joining the world. Conversion isn’t that difficult. We’ll have to put up with your silly spelling (what’s a “liter”?). Most of your industries converted decades ago. Heck, even US cars have been built to metric standards since the 1980s.
I blame it all on Reagan. Everything in the US was moving towards metric (remember the brown signs on your Interstates, giving metric distances?). Reagan, playing to the antediluvian Right, put a halt to metric.
American living in NZ here: In practice it’s very easy to switch to the metric system when you need to do so. It took me a few weeks to get the hang of it. I’d guess that Kiwis going to America find the switch more difficult.